U.s. Says New Zealand Proposal Threatens Defense Pact

April 29, 1986|By New York Times

WASHINGTON — The United States has informed Australia and New Zealand it will formally scrap its 35-year-old defense commitment to New Zealand if that longtime ally goes ahead with legislation to bar visits by nuclear- armed or powered ships, State Department officials said Monday.

Under an arrangement worked out during the Washington visit of Prime Minister Bob Hawke of Australia two weeks ago, President Reagan and Hawke will exchange letters affirming the United States and Australia will keep the so- called ANZUS treaty alive, the officials said.

Australia, New Zealand and the United States, allies in two world wars, signed the treaty Sept. 1, 1951, in San Francisco. The nations agreed that, in the event of an armed attack in the Pacific area on any one of them, they would ''act to meet the common danger.''

But if the New Zealand government pushes through the anti-nuclear legislation as now worded, State Department officials said, the United States will declare it has found New Zealand in ''material breach'' of Article 2 of the treaty.

The article states that ''the parties separately and jointly by means of continuous and effective self-help and mutual aid will maintain and develop their individual and collective capacity to resist armed attack.''

The split stems from the commitment of New Zealand's Labor Party government to a non-nuclear policy. As part of that policy, it has declared that no ships that are nuclear-powered or nuclear-armed can enter New Zealand ports.

The United States objects to any ban on nuclear-powered ships, but its main concern is about the prohibition against nuclear-armed vessels. It has a long-standing policy of refusing to say if a particular warship has nuclear arms.

The New Zealand legislation would ban nuclear-powered ships and empower Prime Minister David Lange to allow ships to enter port if he is convinced they are not nuclear armed. The United States rejects that language and has told the New Zealanders and Australians that, if the proposal is approved as scheduled in August, the defense commitment to New Zealand will be scrapped.